VALDOSTA, Ga. – Valdosta State's women's tennis team wore their No. 15 ranking well on Saturday, opening up Gulf South Conference play with a pair of victories over Lee (6-0) and Shorter (5-0) in Valdosta, Ga. at the VSU Tennis Courts.
 
The Lady Blazers rolled past the Flames, thanks in large part to a strong start in doubles play. Bea Morales Hernandez and Josephine Jedrychowski cruised past Francesca Tondi and Marta Garcia-Nieto, 8-2 at No. 1, followed by Laura Ubeda and Sabrina Schmidt, who teamed up at No. 2 to take down Maclain Yowarsky and Krista Good, 8-0. Daniella Barta and Anke Poncelet pushed VSU out to a 3-0 lead after doubles with a convincing 8-0 win over Morgan Friedlander and Laura Beth Hardesty.
 
In singles play, VSU needed just three victories to end the match early. Jerychowski blew by Yowarsky at No. 3 with a 6-1, 6-0 win, Poncelet defeated Friedlander 6-1, 6-1 at No. 5, and Joanna Lario put an exclamation point on the match with a 6-0, 6-0 win over Hardesty at No. 6.
 
In the second match of the day against Shorter, Morales Hernandez and Jedrychowski picked up right where they left off to outlast Ornella Frere and Agnes Brun in a gutsy 9-7 win at No. 1 doubles. Ubeda and Schmidt won again, 8-5, over Cassandra Wennestrom and Julie Rinderknech at No. 2, followed by Poncelet and Barta, who capped off their perfect day with an 8-3 win over Sicquena Sinclair and Daniela Chipe at No. 3.
 
Two singles wins were all the Blazers would need to close out the contest, and Ubeda and Schmidt were up to the task. Ubeda picked up a win over Brun at No. 2, and Schmidt finished off the Hawks with a 6-2, 6-0 victory at No. 4.
 
With the win, VSU improved to 5-3 overall on the year and kicked off conference play at 2-0.
 
The Lady Blazers return to action on the road this week, with a Wednesday non-conference showdown against the Columbus State Cougars at 2:00 p.m. in Columbus, Ga.